Princess Charming
by Serena Scarlet
Summary: Prince Soul is a pawn stuck in his own castle. However, one night, a girl rescues him. Now, the roles of the damsel in distress and shining knight in armor are reversed in this AU fanfic about secrets, human weapons, and maybe just a bit of romance.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Heheheh…where did this idea come from? If anyone cares to know, I thought to myself the other day that I'd rather be the daring dashing Prince in a fairytale than the Princess…and this sort of popped up *nervous laughter***

**Please enjoy the story!**

'~'Princess Charming'~'

Chapter 1

He should have stayed at the banquet.

The evening had started out innocent enough. His mother had called upon him and his brother and informed them that they would have visitors tonight. As usual, the visitors were important: a duke and duchess of high birth with a daughter who was not yet wedded. From the look his mother gave him, Soul could tell that this was another marriage plan in the works.

While his servants were dressing him, he wondered for the millionth time what he had deserved to be locked up in this castle, to be stuck as his mother's pawn for more fame and glory. His father had died many years before, and so his mother was the reigning queen of the kingdom. Everyone thought that Wes would be the only choice to take the throne, but a glitch in the late King's will stated otherwise: He who got a bride first became the ruler.

So for that reason, and that reason only, he was forced to review countless wedding matches. It was no big secret, after all, that for some reason their mother preferred Soul over Wes.

Things were going fine for the first good three fourths of the banquet, when the elders got drunk and the shy duchess to be kept trying to catch his eye. But then somehow the laughter faded away into stern smiles as the topic of marriage inevitably showed up.

"So…" started the Duke, "As you can see, my daughter Agatha is of fine marriageable age. In fact, she has had a few marriage proposals, but none have suited," a sly glance to the queen, "…her tastes."

Inwardly, Soul scoffed and decided that it was the _parents' _tastes that any nobleman had not satisfied. Why settle for the common wealthy lord when you could aspire to be parents-in-law of a _king_?

At this point though, the Queen was laughing and simultaneously glaring at Soul, willing him with her eyes to propose.

But he sat there, looking at everyone looking at him, and suddenly felt the air slowly suffocate him.

He had to…had to…get…away—

"I have to go to the restroom."

Without a second word, he abruptly stood up and fled to his room.

He kept a brisk pace until he made it to his doorway, where he locked the door with a soft _click_. He breathed out in relief.

Soul fell onto his bed sheets, sighing a bit. With his face in his pillow, he thought about his evening.

What was his mother thinking, trying to get him to suddenly ask for the hand of some random aristocrat he had never met before? True, he knew what he was getting into beforehand, but he hadn't expected the Queen to be so…sudden.

Soul groaned into his pillow. All this fuss was seriously stressing him out.

He tried imagine a relaxing image. A warm place, with a bit of wind. Calming. Outdoors. Slowly but surely, his troubles seemed to ease away…

"Rough day, Prince?"

He jumped, and his first reaction was to snap his head to find the source of the voice.

There on his balcony, curtains sputtering in the breeze, was a dark figure.

"Wh-who are you?" How did some random person get up here? The castle walls were much too high to climb…at least too high for someone _normal_.

"Name's not important, for now. Anyways, we're behind schedule, so if you wouldn't mind…" the figure, he now could identify, was all too female.

She made a slight gesture with her hand that beckoned him to leave his room and step out to the open air.

As if, he thought. Suspicions pounded him like rain. If this person could get through all of the castle's heavy defenses, then that meant that they—or she, as this case applied—was not exactly doing anything on a legal level.

"What?"

Her voice was impatient and snapped him out of his thoughts.

"I should be asking that!" his voice was loud enough to scare himself.

"Shh! It's like you _want _the palace guards to hear us!"

"Well of course I do! I mean, a random thief just shows up in my room and expects me to follow her!"

"Hey, I am not a thief! I'm not that low!"

Soul was taken aback. It made sense though; she didn't threaten him for money or anything.

"Then…are you an assassin?"

Silence. The girl redirected her strong gaze to the half moon outside.

"Sometimes. If I have to. But not for you, luckily."

"Oh, that reassures me."

"I'm trying to be serious here!"

"Man, this is so not cool…"

Her face turned a shocking shade of red and she was about to yell at him again when suddenly there was a loud knock on the door.

Both girl and prince froze.

"…crap."

"Prince Soul? Is there a problem? We heard yelling, and Her Royal Highness requests that you return to the banquet immediately."

This would be about the time when he should shout, yes, there was a problem, but somehow the mysterious girl's stare shut him up.

She moved towards him, slowly, and then he saw what she looked like.

Her hair was done in two simple ponytails, and her cloak helped her blend in with the world around him. A black bandana covered the lower half of her face, but her eyes…her eyes were exposed the soft moonlight, glinting a bright color the exact shade of pine.

_What was this feeling?_

She moved close enough that she could reach out her hand and touch his face. Or slice his throat.

"Prince? Prince Soul!"

More banging on the door, and he could hear the soldiers getting ready to knock it down.

He heard them, but he didn't. The girl moved closer now, placing one of her hands on his chest, right where his heart was. With her other hand she pulled off her face mask, and he glimpsed her mouth. Then, a huge crack echoed.

"I didn't want it to have to come to this. So don't get mad, okay?"

Her voice was crystal clear as it synced with the sound of his bedroom door breaking.

Within seconds, the soldiers started to pile into the room.

Soul was still frozen, his heart beating faster than a hummingbird's wings as her face aligned with his. He felt stuck, and _completely entranced_.

"Soul Unleashed!" she shouted, and then quickly pressed forward to touch her lips with his.

The Prince was completely stunned, but he didn't have time to even realize that the _girl stole his first kiss_ because he felt his mind ripping from his body.

It happened in a second and then it happened in an hour. The feeling was immense, swallowing him up and molding him, electrifying every nerve. He felt like screaming but he couldn't. Flashes of red and black appeared in his vision, but as soon as he could recognize it the pain stopped abruptly.

His mind was back in his body, but he felt different. Looking down, he noticed that he couldn't move at _all_ because there was nothing to move. He was just a solid bar!  
>"What the hell is going—"<p>

Without giving him time to finish that thought, he felt firm hands grip around him and swing him around.

"HUUHHAH!"

Soul heard the girl scream with frustration as he felt his head (or whatever was there instead of it) collide into something firm yet able to give away.

And it happened again and again, her swinging and him feeling dizzy not from the swinging but from trying to figure out how sane he was at the moment.

Then he realized: his head was hurting the soldiers. They were hurting them.

He was a human weapon.

This revelation scared him so much that his mind just shut down. He suddenly felt as if though he were to change back again, but then she muttered an "Oh no you don't" and jumped off his balcony with him in her arms.

Unfortunately, this time he had the senses to scream.

That triggered his transformation, and as he fell to the ground he was normal once more.

Before he could catch his breath, she grabbed his hand and started to drag him away from the palace.

"Hey! Slow down!"

"SSH! Listen, we have to get out of here."

"Okay wait," he wrangled his arm out of her gloved hands and looked at her with the authority his birth right entitled.

"You, a random assassin, climb onto my bedroom balcony."

"Isn't that stating the obvi—"

"And then you say, 'Hey let's go far away!' and expect me, the Prince of Evanlan to follow you."

"Yep. Now, c'mon, we have to get going."

"But where? And how do you know that I even _want_ to go with you?"

She sighed at him, closing her eyes and rubbing her head like she had a headache.

"Are you telling me you don't want to be saved?"

His vermillion eyes blinked.

"Saved? From what?"

She looked back at him and smirked with her now uncovered mouth.

"That…will be told later. Now, we just need to dig under this patch of bushes…"

Soul sighed and watched her brush away a bunch of weeds until a good sized hole in the wall was revealed."

"I came in the harder way, but seeing as you lack training…"she trailed off.

"No. No way am I crawling in that filthy mud."

"A bit of dirt won't kill you."

He crossed his arms defiantly. "I will not. I don't even need to follow you or anything. In fact, I should be running the other way and getting help right now."

She glared at him. "Listen Prince, you have two options here. One, you can come with me like a good little boy. Two, you can crawl back to your wimpy guards and mommy, stuck forever in this stupid place."

Soul turned around with an angry huff. In the dark moonlight, he could see the outline of the castle, strong and almighty and an unaccustomed sight. He wasn't let out of the grounds very often: in fact, he hadn't seen the palace like this ever. Stay or leave? Stay as a pawn or finally get out of his mother's game? Stay in the only place he'd known or go to some foreign area where who knew what would happen?

He grumbled and got down on his hands and knees.

The girl next to him let out a breath and crouched down too.

"Good. If you didn't come with, I would have had to kill you."

"What?"

"Sorry, sorry, but hey, everything's cool now." She looked at him with a smile. "It's not like I wanted to kill you."

Soul saw the girl in a shocking new light. To think that she'd kill him if he didn't allow himself to be kidnapped!

"Who exactly are you?"

Holding apart a bit of branches, she turned back with a malicious expression.

"Just call me your Princess Charming, Prince."

~.~.~

**A/N: It was the first chapter, so it was short. Tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you _maachi-chan, soul eater crazy, .Poisoned Scarlet., crazychick1313, Desi, _and_ Miyaow_ for reading and reviewing! I've never seen such a fast and quick response like this before! Anyways, I'll hop right to writing another chapter.**

'~'Princess Charming'~'

Chapter 2

It was funny to him how only a few feet of brick separated his entire world. One minute he was in…and then when he stood up on the other side, he was out.

While waiting for the girl to follow through (she had stated that he should go first since he wouldn't be able to outrun her), he looked back at his home. Even at night, the strict lines seemed menacing, for lack of a better word. And now a huge twenty foot wall obscured all of it except for the tallest towers.

"Ready to go then, Prince?"

Soul jumped, even though he should have been ready for the girl this time. The sound of her slightly gruff voice was something he was slowly becoming accustomed to, against his will.

Sighing, he turned his back on the castle walls and started to follow her.

After having his formal dinner clothes ripped by a few more brambles and branches, they finally made it what seemed like some grimy dirt path. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of nearby swampy water, and decided that they were near the moat.

He had been outside the kingdom a few times when his father was alive, but they were when he was young and only very briefly. He had all the entertainment he could want inside the palace walls, and people usually visited the royal family and not the other way around.

A sudden snort that didn't come from him or his mysterious captor froze him in his tracks.

She must've noticed his muscles tense, for she said, "Aw c'mon now, Maybelle's not going to hurt you."

Indeed, as he allowed his eyes to roam around, he noticed a dark brown horse tethered to a tree trunk.

However, it took Soul a moment to realize that there was only one horse, which meant…

"Oh no. No."

"What is it this time?" she asked, already up on the horse halfway.

"I am not going to sit on the same horse as you."

"Well, I don't think you can ride."

"I can too! I've actually been trained to ride since I was a child." He says this with a small smile of pride.

She sighed. "Oh, well I didn't know if you could or not, so I just brought one. Now are you going to get on or what?"

"Not unless I'm steering."

"You're not in charge here."  
>"True, but I'm not a maid either."<p>

"A maid? You mean a girl?" she snorts.

"Yes I do. Everyone knows that no female can ride as well as a man can."  
>"I'll have to prove you wrong then. Now hop on."<p>

"No."

This time she glared at him hard and then looked at the sky nervously.

"What?" he asked.

"Uh, we're running out of time. And you'll be harder to transport knocked out."

"Is that all—"

"Fine. Fine, you win. But you _have _to go where I tell you to, all right?"

Soul blinked once. Then he got his senses and took the reins while she slipped off gracefully. He hadn't expected her to give in so easily.

With a small smile, he got a hold of the saddle and quickly hoisted himself up to prove he was more than competent. Then he extended his hand like he had been taught to do, only she ignored it and got on by herself easily.

Now she sat behind him, hands around his waist to prevent from slipping off.

He gulped. Perhaps this wasn't such a good idea. She was a woman, after all was said and done, right? They were in a rather awkward position.

To ease to air, he started right where she left off.

"And if I don't lead where you want me to go?"

In the middle of his shoulder, he feels her face smile. In the pit of his stomach, he felt the sharp blade of a knife apply pressure for just a moment.

He figured out why she wrapped her arms around him.

…

Never had a simple horse ride been more distracting. For one, never had he been in the city outside at night, and everything was quiet and a bit scary. The dark alleys made him nervous each time they had to go through. They never saw a soul, but something about the way she led him through the maze of houses probably had something to do with it.

Secondly, the way she was completely pressed against his back was alluring, although he would never admit it. But he was a young male, so who would blame him if his heart beat a bit loud every time she would softly murmur a direction in his ear.

"Left." she whispered, her warm breath tingling.

He could only hope that their small expedition would end soon. His torso was tired from sitting upright for so long, and his eyes were starting to droop with sleep.

Finally they came upon a small, ratty building. She hopped off while he stayed on the horse.

"So is this an armory or something?" he inquired, looking at the building with mild disgust.

She looked back with a look between misbelief and seriousness.

"No. It's an inn."

An inn? He looked at the ratty shack. It could not even compare to his lush bedroom.

He felt like a bird that was let out of its cage by a cat and then lured to a mud crusted nest. Who knew freedom would be so, so…

"I know it's not quite to your _pristine_ tastes, Prince, but if we're to keep a low profile, we'll need to stay here. Plus, I'm not exactly loaded."

She led the horse inside a makeshift stable and dragged him to the door.

"You'll survive."

Inside the shabby inn, there is no man waiting at the front desk. Despite this, the self-claimed assassin reached into her cloak and pulled out a few small bronze coins, and leaves it on the table. Then she grabs a key and heads upstairs.

"Did you really have to pay if there was no one there?"

"Of course. If I didn't, they would've found out who we were when we left and would've tracked us down." As she climbed up the stairs, she gave a side glance. "People can be rather dangerous in this part of town. And revengeful."

They finally stop in front of a door. "Well, here we are. Home sweet home. At least for a night…"

Unlocking the door, Soul noticed that the insides of the room were an awful lot like the outside of the hotel: dingy and dirty. The sheets, while somewhat clean, were riddled with holes here and there, and there was only one bed. He hoped his room didn't look too much like this one, but he highly doubted it.

After getting inside and slowly taking off her cloak and arranging her belongings, she noticed him standing at the doorway.

"So are you going to stand there all night, Prince?"

His eye twitched. It was getting increasingly annoying when she called him that.

"You can just call me Soul, you know."

"…Soul…"

"…"

"Okay never mind."

"Yeah I think I'll stick to Prince for now, Prince." She smirked and went back to placing her belongings.

He suddenly remembered something. "I don't even know your name."

"What?"

"I said, 'I don't really know your name'. You never told it to me after you kidnapped me."

"Okay, Number one, stop saying kidnapped. You came willingly, like it or not. And secondly, it's Maka. Just Maka."

For some reason, he was surprised. It was such a simple name, but also a bit different than what he was used to.

"Maka."

"Mmhmm?"

"Just wanted to test it…"

"Silly Prince."

He shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably.

"So where would my room be then, exactly?"

Immediately Maka stopped what she was doing and looked up.

"You're kidding me right?"

His eyes widened. "You don't mean to say we're sharing a room!"

"Of course. You could flee or get attacked, and I'd have no way of knowing. Nope, you're staying right here." She patted the spot next to her on the bed.

In all of his life, Soul had been born and raised exactly what Maka called him: a freaking Prince. And one night of maybe escaping from his old cage forever wasn't going to change that.

"I am not sharing a room with you. It's improper and immoral."

"Please be rational, Prince. It's not like we're naked or anything."

"GAH! Why do you even have to..!"

"If it makes you feel better, I'll take the floor."

His first response was to accept her proposition, but then his chivalry code kicked in.

"No. No. I'll take the floor. The lady should take the most comfortable spot."

"Alrighty then! Good to know."

She then blew out the candle lamp and fell on her bed.

He wasn't ready for her sudden acceptance. Soul had at least expected a "thank you, good sir," or something of that sort. Then again, he was slowly learning that this was one unpredictable girl. She'd threaten to kill you and then kiss you—

With a small gasp, he remembered what happened earlier that night. Had he really turned into some sort of weapon? And why? How was that even possible?

He sat down on the floor, his head resting on the bedside.

"Hey Maka…are you asleep?"

"I would've been if you didn't speak up."

"Oh, sorry, I just—"

"Spit it out. Then I can get some dreams."

"Why did you kiss—"

Even in the soft light, he noticed her eyes snap open and her face dramatically darken. Apparently she had forgotten all about it as well.

She sat up.

"You…you..!"

Out of nowhere, a book collided with his head.

Soul yelped loudly and felt his field of vision darken.

Then he slipped into an unruly rest.

…

"_Nii-chan! Nii-chan!"_

_A smiling face. A ring of flowers. _

_Black. Black everywhere._

"_Nii-chan! Wake up!"_

"_Wake up! Wake up! Wake…"_

"…up you spoiled Prince!"

He jumped from the sudden intrusion and felt his head collide with something.

"Ow…"

Opening his eyes, he noticed Maka rubbing her chin in a similar manner.

"Oh, I'm sorr—"

"Accidents happen. Now let's move."

Already, the entire room was spotless and empty. He carefully stood up and noticed his captor in the new morning light.

Her hair was a fair brown and her eyes seemed a bit lighter in the daytime. She also appeared to have changed clothes, although her dark cloak remained.

"Done staring?"

He blushed at having been caught looking and let himself get dragged downstairs. They passed the desk and went outside to fetch Maybelle.

Soon, they were on horseback and riding through the streets again. There were a few people out, but not enough to care or notice two strangers traveling.

He removed one hand from the reins and yawned. Soul felt like he didn't sleep for more than five minutes.

"Man, you act as if though you've never had a three hour night before..."

He sighed. Of course.

There were many interesting and new things to look at. Stalls filled with produce, the smells of warm bread from the bakeries…he felt his stomach quench but didn't chance asking the unpredictable girl.

However, as they neared the edge of the town, he gave in to curiosity.

"Where are we going?"

"I'll tell you that," she moved a bit closer to his ear, "eventually."

Shutting up, he continued to ride.

Down the trail the horse trotted, and everything was going fine until Maka suddenly whispered an urgent "Stop!" in his ear.

She hopped out, reaching into her cloak.

"This sucks."

"What? What is it now?"

Soul thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye and tried to follow it.

"Bandits. Great. Just wonderful."

Suddenly a shadow materialized and threw themselves forward at the girl. Soul screamed and almost jumped off the horse to help her, but was shocked when the figure stopped in midair.

On the ground, a second later, laid a man with a knife lodged in his throat.

"Sorry boys…"she said to the shadows. Taking her hands from her cloak, different knives gleamed in the mild sunlight.

"…He's mine."

~.~.~

**A/N: Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think, and sorry for the cliff hanger.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Oooh! So many reviews for this chapter…I'm so happy, really! And also lots of people put it on their story alerts!**

**Thanks to macchi-chan, shadowstar92, .Poisoned Scarlet., Miyaow, Desi, QuilavaKing, Souliel, crazychick1313, jar of hearts, QueenOfAlices, Danibat, Meet Albert. The Cupcake, and finally, shanagi95! I really can't write this without you!**

**Onwards, perhaps?**

'~'Princess Charming'~'

Chapter 3

Death.

He had never grown up with it. For the longest time, he hadn't even known that such a thing had existed.

"_Mama?" _

_Soul looked up to the queen with big red eyes. His mother sighed._

"_It's 'Your Highness', Soul. What is it?"_

"_Where's Papa?"_

_Her cold hazel eyes immediately hardened, her smile froze in its place._

"_Why would you ask such a thing sweetie? Now, get your brother. It's time for you to go to bed."_

Another one fell down to the ground, adding to the total of dead bodies.

He'd never seen…he'd never imagined…so much…

"…_blood?"_

"_Yes, that's what I heard the King was coughing up in his final hours. So sad really, to have him die in such a manner."_

_Soul stopped right in his tracks, overhearing the gossiping cooks in the kitchen. He had wanted a glass of water and decided to get it himself for a change. He would be turning seven years old in a week._

_What...is 'die'? _

Her eyes were a sickening green.

Blood didn't splash on her, but all of the sudden he felt something wet on his cheek.

Turning around, he noticed a man slumping instantly, the light fading from his eyes as a single, well placed knife lay deep in his chest.

"_Hey…Wes?"_

_The older white haired boy just stared out his open window. He wasn't so sure, but he thought that his older brother had been growing more distant with each passing day._

"_Wes?"_

_Still no response._

_He held his breath. Sometimes Wes ignored him like this. Soul decided he might as well get his question out._

"_Wes…what is 'die'?_

_A pair of dark red eyes broke their concentration on the room and turned to Soul._

"'_Die'? As in dying? Death?"_

_The words that his older brother said were foreboding, even dangerous if a word could be such._

_He swallowed up his fears and kept a brave face forward. He was a man, afterall!_

_Matching his brother in their staring contest, he spoke the magic words._

"_I want to know."_

Maka was spinning like a top, constantly jumping and dodging. Her hands were always flicking, throwing knives that no one could see. She made her way around the horse with Soul on top of it, making sure she never ran out of weapons by dislodging them from the bodies. For some reason, the bandit nearest to him had not completely died yet, but was only staring at Soul while his chest wounds bled.

_The older boy jumped of his perch and slinked over to his brother._

"_Dying…" he started._

"…_is when someone's existence is erased…"_

The man was looking at him with mercy.

"…_and it never…"_

The girl then came into his line of vision. She glanced at Soul looking at the bandit.

"…_ever…"_

She placed her heel on the hilt of the blade.

"…_comes back…"_

She pressed just lightly, but the man's heart stopped. Soul could almost…hear it…

_Wes grinned._

_Soul's eyes widened._

"AHHHHHHHH!"

He found himself screaming uncontrollably. Instantly, he was burning, his eyes filled with tears that would not spill but itched anyways. Pain filled him from inside and out, but the only known source was his very own _soul_.

Suddenly, warm hands were on each side of his head, carefully prying his own hands off of his temples.

"Please don't transform."

It was like her calm voice was his only connection to reality; his mind bombarded by endless memories playing like a repeating broken record.

"It could be problematic if you turned into a weapon now."  
>How could he care about turning into something when he couldn't even control his own body now? Soul was thrashing and screaming, almost as if some monster inside of him wanted to break free and loose.<p>

"It's over. I'm here."

Those words were like drops of water on his internal hell. As quick as the attack came, he felt himself slowly stop to scream or try to break out of her grasp. It was like if his arms and legs gave up.

"Sshh…It's okay. It's okay."

Soul was aware that she was holding him like how a mother holds a crying child, but he didn't have the strength to care. He just stared unfocused into the woods as she continued to keep him from going insane.

"I'll always be here."

For how long had he wanted those words? He didn't even know he had ever wanted them, but now it was like some scar was healing, some part of him was finally able to be put to rest—for the moment. He realized he didn't care if she didn't mean it or if it wasn't true: he wanted to hear those words forever.

"Everything will be alright, _Soul_."

He closed his eyes, softly but uneasily.

…

"You really are harder to transport when you're asleep like a cat, Prince."

He woke up to her voice, as usual. The first thing he was aware of was that they were still on Maybelle, although at a slow comfortable trot.

After that, he realized that his chin was resting on her shoulder. And his arms were slumped over her back, too.

Maka's eyes looked at him worryingly.

"WA-AHHH!"

He fell off the horse before he even realized what was happening.

The horse stopped and he heard her boots plodding over to him.

"Idiotic Prince."

"Sh-Shut up!"

"Oh, he said something rude. I'm so scared."

"You don't have to be so sarcastic about it."

"Meh." Then, something must've been really interesting about the forest for she looked away from him.

"How are you…feeling?"

He blinked. Then he remembered what she was talking about…  
>"Oh, yeah. That. Well, I'm cool now…"he smirked evilly, "…no need to worry or anything, <em>Maka<em>."

She blushed a simple shade of red and kicked him roughly in the side.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"So _sorry_ I was worried about your mental breakdown! Apparently you're all better now!"

Standing up, he reached out to grab her shoulder.

"Hey! It's not like I wanted it to happen! But," he took a deep breath, "Thank you."

Everything was silent for a moment as she kept her back to him.

"We should get going," she stated, whipping around to remove his hand.

Soul almost was relieved that her normal cool composure was back, although he secretly admitted that it was funny when she got all flustered.

They rode on the horse in silence with Soul on the reins again. The woods were so peaceful that he could almost forget what had happened earlier in its depths.

Almost.

Then the trees began to thin out, the road began to become less rocky. Pretty soon, there was enough cleared that he could see beyond the endless mass of woods.

"Whoa."

"Welcome," whispered Maka in his ear, making him shiver, "…To Death City."

~.~.~

**A/N: They finally freaking made it! I'm so proud (laughs)!**

**Sorry for the shortness…and did I do that whole 'Soul's memories vs. real life' thing correctly? Hmm.**

'**Tis my birthday today, so I thought I'd update! If you feel empty handed, I would humbly like to ask reviews for a presents! :D See you soon, hopefully!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I do believe I've never had such great reviewers/readers as you guys! I love you all!**

**Kudos to maachi-chan, .PoisonedScarlet., Souliel, Better Than Waffles, crazychick1313, Miyaow-NOT(who got an official account, yays), kioku7, shanagi95, and last but certainly not least, Danibat!**

**Let's get on with it, shall we?**

'~'Princess Charming'~'

Chapter 4

Soul didn't know Suns could laugh.

Also, he found it rather strange that the lush, green forest abruptly gave way to calm desert sand, almost without any land that was "in-between".

But then again, until last night, he didn't know that he could turn into something other than, well, _Soul_.

He sighed. What a massive headache. It was probably from the lack of sleep or by the fact that he was starving, and trying to figure out the answers to all his questions did not help in the slightest.

The horse continued on her steady path, not even batting an eyelash at the sudden difference in terrain.

"So how in the world did the Sun come to life?" Might as well start somewhere, right? He would've asked about the human weapon thing if it didn't creep him out so much.

"I'd tell you, but I think it's more rational to see it for yourself than for me to explain it in mere words." He wrinkled his nose. There she was, going all smart aleck-y on him again! Soul knew what she meant, but still…she almost acted as if she was more intelligent than him, and it made him crankier than he already was.

"Oh, just try me."

"Fine." He felt her smirk in between his shoulder blades, and _no he was not thinking about what that was doing to his temperature._

"The Shinigami's soul (or Death God, or Grim Reaper, if you'd like) happens to form a trans-spatial hemisphere that contains a set area of points. With me so far?"

"I—"

"Good. Now, these points represent Death City and all the desert terrain you are witnessing right now. Basically, we have just crossed a border that alters reality on a sub-atomic degree, to the point where physical factors are affected. This explains the abnormalities from Evanlan."

"…"

"Geez, that explains everything! Surely, all my doubts have flown through the window!"

"Your sarcasm is not amusing, Prince," she lectured, but he could hear the smile in her voice.

"Could you perhaps translate what you said to normal language?"

"Patience is a Virtue. Just wait until a little longer."

She was right, of course, as Soul noticed. They had crossed the sands within less than an hour due to the lack of obstacles, and now were a few minutes away from the ominous black gates.

Death City. He had heard rumors from the servants in the castle, how sometimes people went and never came back, how the streets were lined with murders and thieves and all sorts of bad folk. They even said that if you _did _make it back, you were never the same again, as if you had a personality transplant.

Soul had always thought that such a place would be uncool and not fit to go to.

But that was yesterday.

In fact, in the daylight, the walls and buildings he could see from the outside were yes, dark and gloomy, but it didn't seem particularly threatening. More comical.

But he'd never get used to that annoying orange glob in the sky that he could swear was giggling at _him_.

Finally, they reached their destination.

She glided off gracefully, and then he felt the full Sun's heat hit his back.

Then he noticed what she was doing. She was leaning over and peering at a piece of glass, looking concentrated. Other than the doors, the rest of the walls were just brick, piled sky high.

He secretly hoped that Maka didn't have enough…assassin skill to climb over _these _walls.

"Now what was the guards' number…"

He raised an eyebrow. Now what was that supposed to mean?

"Ah! I remember! Forty five, Forty Five, ten ele-ven…" As she called out the numbers in a singsong voice, she traced them on a piece of the glass that was fogged up.

Suddenly, the glass shone brightly and Soul had to look away for a second.

"Hello? Are there any guards there?"

His jaw dropped. There was an image of two people in the mirror, both sleeping!

"Hey!" Maka yelled, thumping her fist on the pane.

"OH, uh…" One man burst awake and had to gather his surroundings before he could respond.

"Oh, Maka-chan! Welcome back!"

"Thank you very much. The mission was successful."

Soul huffed at being called a 'mission', and then the guard's eyes were upon him.

"Ehhh? So this is…this is really…"

"Yes yes, it's him. Now, we've gone a few hours without food, so could you perhaps open the door?"

"Oh, OH that's right, ha ha."

The guard was a bit ditzy, Soul noticed.

A few levers were pulled on the other end, and the doors pried open with a heavy clicking noise.

The gates acted as curtains that slowly revealed the grand city. There were buildings of all shapes and of vibrant colors that slowly built upon one another, finally leading to a grand palace at the very top.

Before he could take it all in, Soul felt a hand grasp the back of his shirt.

"Come on, Prince. Or were you planning to gape all day?"

He felt his blood boil a bit at being 'caught', but he followed her back onto the horse.

Inside, the city was different than what he was used to. At this early an hour, only a few merchants stood out, setting up their goods for the day. The occasional person did glance at them, but they only seemed to gawk at his hair.

Soul found it weird that people didn't bow to him as their rightful leader. What was he in their eyes? Just a boy riding a horse with Maka?

The thought comforted him slightly and they continued upwards.

However, the higher they went, so did his anxiety go up.

"Hey, Maka…"

"What?"

"Where are we going?"

"Where else? Shibusen, of course."

"Shibu…sen?"

"Eh? Those tutors of yours really did nothing to tell you about the world, huh?"

He opened his mouth to argue, but then realized she was right. It wasn't like anyone (including himself) had any doubts that he _wouldn't _need to know anything other than being a prince.

It was just by accident that he ended up kidnapped.

He wasn't sure how his handwriting lessons were supposed to apply to that.

"You're all quiet now, huh? Ah, that's boring."

"Well, what do you want me to do?"

"I don't know, what was it like, being a part of the royal family and all?"

It was a weird question, Soul thought.

"I don't know…like a cage, really. Not like you'd understand or anything." He snorted.

"Hmmm…really?"

Turning around for a moment, he caught her sad look to the ground.

Before he could question her, a shadow came over his head.

"We're here."

"Oh. No."

"Yep! Welcome to Shibusen."

The huge spiky palace he had seen on the way in? Well, that was Soul's final destination.

What kind of tortures could lay within such menacing architecture?

Before he could properly freak out, Maka started to drag him to another set of gates.

"No. No No No No NO."

"Please stop sounding like we're doing something illegal..."

"How is kidnapping LEGAL?"

"Once again, you weren't kidnapped. Didn't I tell you that?"

"Yes, but…"

"Well, then what's your problem?" Her eyes sparkled with her temper. "Now let's get inside, people to meet you know?"

"I don't—"

"Deal with it. Come on!"

Finally, she wrestled him off the saddle and dragged him into the building.

When they came upon the door, he offered to open it for her, partly because of the chivalry he had left and partly because he didn't want to face the interior just yet.

"Thank you!" she walked in quickly, then waited.

He sulked behind the door.

She sighed. "Prince…Prince?"

"Hnn."

"It's not cool to hide behind doors and let the cold air out, okay?"

Grimacing, he walked through, eyes adjusting…

And found himself in a hallway.

A normal, everyday, bland color hallway. With tiles and plaster walls and everything.

"Wh..what…"

"Huh?"  
>"What the hell is this?"<p>

"It's Shibusen. What else would it be?"

"But I was prepared for the dungeon chambers!"

"Really? Did you think that's what this was?" she looked like she was about to burst out laughing, and he wanted to stop her and yet let her do it at the same time.

"Where else would you…" he glanced sideways, "…Take a prisoner?"

"Prisoner? You still believe that?"

She moved towards him, close enough that he could feel her breath on his face.

"If you were convicted of a crime, you would've died already."

He took a step backwards, but she followed him into his personal space.

"If you were kidnapped, you would've woken up in a cell."

One more step backwards, one more step closer to him.

"You forget, Your Royal Highness,"

He tried to get away from her, but found himself trapped in place by a wall behind him.

"I _saved _you."

"From what?"

A smile that reminded him of Wes' grew on her face.

"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

Suddenly, the tense mood dissipated, and she moved her face away from his.

"Well then. Now that that's done, let's go meet the Shinigami."

"Huh?" Her sudden positive mood made him feel dizzy.

"The Shinigami! Headmaster of Shibusen!"

"Headmaster…" It suddenly felt like some of the puzzle pieces in Soul's mind clicked.

"That's right. Welcome to Shibusen….the World's finest academy for demon weapons and meisters." She said this with pride on her face.

His eyes widened.

Soul slowly fell to his knees, laughing a bit hysterically.

The world just hated him, didn't it?

~.~.~

**A/N: Meh. This chapter was alright, but I can't really get into the action just yet. We'll just have to see where this goes, alright? I mean, I have a general idea of what I want, but things still need to work in my head…On a side note, Maka sure was rather happy, huh? I tried to tap into her positive side a bit. It probably came out because she completed her "mission".**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Ack. I haven't updated in forever. I'm getting lazy!  
>So anyways, Thanks to: spoiledhalfbreed, Souliel, crazychick1313, Failed-Expectations, ChocoMintz, Miayow-NOT, and tomboyrulez! Can't do this without you guys!<strong>

'~'Princess Charming'~'

Chapter 5

As he entered the grand hallway, his mother's words came back to him.

"_Posture, Soul! You must always stand tall when conversing with others."  
><em>His back straightened, and he walked next to Maka with his head high.

"_Don't give me that look…"_

Soul's face turned into a cool, calm mask.

"_Straighter!"_

"What are you doing?"  
>He felt annoyed as Maka's curious eyes looked over his determined expression.<p>

"You can relax a tad bit, you know. I don't think you want the Shinigami to think you're a prude." At this, she smiled a bit.

In response, he gritted his teeth but did not say a word.

"_No…NO, Soul. Oh, this simply won't do at all…"_

Shaking his head to dispense the bad memories, he looked up to see a sharp blade about to descend on him…

Flinching, he immediately pushed Maka with all of his body so that they both crashed to the floor.

"Ow! What the—!"

Quickly turning his head, he looked up at the guillotine…that had not dropped. Then he noticed that the entire hallway was full of them, frozen but still looking functional…

"Oh, the gates, huh? Yeah, the Shinigami has a weird sense of decorating!"

"Deco…rating? I thought my head was going to be chopped off!"

She laughed loudly then, enough that he could feel the vibrations from her chest through their joined bodies.

Immediately, he jumped up (and off of Maka) and offered her his hand, only for her to once again get up quickly without assistance.

"I do believe the Shinigami doesn't use the guillotines on students, but let's hurry or he might be impatient…"she said, still smiling from the laughing earlier.

Soul's face reddened. She was _teasing him_, and he found it annoying.

They continued to walk as they had before (if not with a slightly faster pace) and made their way to two large doors.

"Death Room?" Soul's eyebrows rose at the doors' inscriptions.

Maka shrugged. "Weird sense of style."

She reached her arm forward to push open the doors, and then…

It was like standing in a whole other _world_.

The room was a desert landscape, much like the one outside, with a sky that was a non-changing shade of blue and seemed to go on forever.

There were also, Soul realized, dark heavy crosses buried everywhere, making the place seem like a gravesite.

Right in the middle of it all sat a platform with a tall mirror; and finally, the Shinigami himself.

Whatever Soul had been expecting the Shinigami to be, this man was certainly not it. He expected a strict, tall headmaster, not unlike a military commander of some sorts.

He expected the whole scar and eye patch sort of character, not a cutesy mask on a completely cloaked body.

"_Heloo-ooo, _Maka-chan! How did everything go?"

Looking beside him for the first time, he noticed Maka was smiling warmly at the man.

"Good Morning, Shinigami-sama. I've completed the mission you assigned me."

His heart panged a bit at all of his stress being downsized and labeled a 'mission', but it was pointless to argue.

"Well done, Well done! Now then…" the Shinigami turned towards Soul, and he could feel the eyes that scrutinized him behind the mask.

"Ah. So this is one of the Princes of Evanlan, huh? Was it…hard to…?"

"At first, sir, but I do think that by now, he's come willingly."

"Yes…or else…"

"My orders were to kill him otherwise, Sir."

Soul must've looked grim, even though he'd heard it before, because the Shinigami immediately tried to cover Maka's words.

"Yes, yes, but what matters now is that Soul is to become a student at our wonderful Shibusen!" He clapped his oversized white hands loudly.

All this suspense and mystery was killing him.

"Can someone please just explain to me why the _hell_ I turned into a weapon last night?"

It was said firmly, but there were a few immature impatient notes that slipped out of Soul's voice.

"Oho…Maka-chan, you didn't tell him yet?"

"No, Sir. I thought it would be better for you to explain it."

"Ah, I see…"

Both their eyes were on Soul this time, and he shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, this may be a lot to handle, but let's just say…there may be some things about the world you don't know about?" the way he said it was questioning, as if the Shinigami did not trust his own words.

The Prince wrinkled his nose. "Like..?"

"Well, let's just start with the basics. Everyone in the world has a soul."  
>Alright, he thought. That was cool. Fine. He could handle this.<p>

"Of course, every soul is different. There is a trait among a select few souls that enables them to a certain _ability._ This ability is the power to transform temporarily into…a weapon."

"Oh." Why did everything sound so damn simple and yet highly illogical when the headmaster said it? Even though it sounded like a stupid fairytale, he saw too much the night before to not believe it.

"Yes. So, as you already know, you are one of those…special people. So that's why," the seriousness disappeared from his voice, "you will now study here to hone your skills at the academy!"

"Wait! Is that what this entire stupid thing is about!" his fists clenched. Soul had been through hell and back just to become a student?

"Who says I even want to be here? Why did Maka say she 'rescued' me? And how come…" he trailed off, his thoughts blurring.

_How come no one told him about this?_

_Unless they didn't know…_

The Shinigami intertwined his fingers, and looked at Soul again.

"I'm sorry, Soul-kun, but it seems like I can't answer all your questions yet. I'm afraid I'm not allowed to, for your own safety…"  
>"Please do know that Shibusen is the safest place for you right now. If you had stayed in that palace, we could have not guaranteed…many things..."<p>

He was confused. All he was talking about was the 'for your safety' crap, but hadn't he given the order to kill him if he didn't come here?

What was so important, that if Soul stayed with his family, he would have to be _executed_?

"Well! That's that, huh?" once again, the Shinigami clapped his hands to end Soul's thoughts.

"Maka-chan! Please direct Soul-kun to his resting quarters, I think he's had a rough day! And make sure to pick up some spare clothing, if you can!"

"Yes, Shinigami-sama!" she saluted to him, and then proceeded to drag Soul out.

Sure enough, after she led them out of the 'gate' filled hallway, she found another one and he was suddenly in a giant labyrinth of a building. She found some clothing in a closet, and then they spun on their heels and they were off again.

On the way to the dorms (Maka had called it that earlier), they passed by some classrooms. Soul's eyes widened as he noticed that they were all decked out in training gear, and more often than not, people were sparring. This was not your average textbooks and essays academy.

No wonder Maka was so skilled in her trade.

Finally, they arrived at a door labeled "133".

"Here we are."

She opened the door for him, and walked inside, opening the curtains on the opposite wall.

Harsh sunlight suddenly flooded his eyesight.

"Hey, cut that out!"

"Meh, a bit of sunlight only hurts vampires…although you're pale enough to be one, I suppose." She clapped her hand on his shoulder, and he flinched again at being touched.

"I'm sure you'll tan nicely! Anyways, welcome to your room."

He looked around.

A plain bed, a dresser, a window with white curtains. A few lamps, here and there.

It didn't feel like home. But strangely enough, it didn't feel stiffening, either.

She tossed his clothing to him.

"You look like a mess! There's a mirror on the back of the door, and the bathrooms for the guys are all the way down on the right." She pointed with a gloved hand.

He frowned at the rough, unrefined fabric, and unrolled the bundle to find a loose, button up white shirt and a pair of black pants.

It wasn't the soft silk he was used to.

But looking in the mirror, he saw that his fancy clothes he'd worn to the banquet was a complete disaster, with dirt rubbed everywhere and tears where thorns or bushes had torn the fabric. He looked at his face, and grimaced at the leaves in his hair and blood on his cheek.

The blood brought back the recent memory so suddenly that he felt like throwing up.

Suppressing the feeling, he looked at Maka's almost unnatural happy face.

"…Thanks…"

"No problem, of course. Anyways, I'll send someone soon to bring you to lunch in a couple hours.

"Wait, you're not coming back?" Panic rose and his heart thumped louder.

"I don't think so…I usually live and work on the other side of the building, and I have lots of missions to work on…"her face was set in a determined frown.

"…But I might see you at lunch."

Soul breathed out, relieved, then immediately scolded himself for doing so. But he was suddenly in an unfamiliar place, and nothing felt normal to him. There were no servants, no expensive furniture, and no one treated him with the rights that came from his birth.

At this rate, he was going to miss his witch of a mother.

She was like a lifeline that he couldn't let go of.

"Calm down, Prince. I may be busy, but who knows? I could even see you in the hallways."  
>There it was again. She would be a complete bother (or psychopath), but then a few words and he would trust every thing she would say.<p>

Doing nothing more, he went to go change in the bathroom.

"Hey! See you later!" she shouted to his back.

It took everything in his power not to smile.

**~.~.~**

**A/N: Okay, who hates me for not updating in forever? **

**But now I feel like the action can start. Or something like that.**

**Yes, more subtle hints of plot and irony that may or may not make sense later. I plan a long story, folks.**

**Thank you for reading my humble work!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!**

**I've been extremely busy this summer, but also extremely lazy. Thank you for reading!**

**This chapter is dedicated to Tomboyrulez, ChocoMintz, Dhampyric-Insomniac, Unknown Alicex3, Better Than Waffles, QuilavaKing, BlindingColors and Hannable (who wrote several, which is much appreciated)! You guys rock!**

**Edit: Minor grammar changes now fixed. I need a beta. If only I knew how…**

'~'Princess Charming'~'

Chapter 6

He really wished he had been nicer to the girl.

But when he fell asleep, he was assaulted by nightmares about blood and all shades of the spectrum, and the three simple knocks landed him right off his bed.

So when he went to the door, he opened it and affixed Maka with a rough, "What?"

Except it wasn't Maka.

The black haired girl's eyes just widened and she took a step back.

"Oh, hi!" she stuttered out. "My name is Tsubaki, and I'm to accompany you to the cafeteria hall?"

"O-oh. Sorry." He looked down due to the awkwardness.

"That's okay," she glanced at a piece of paper he had not noticed before, "Soul-san, right? Anyways, if you don't mind, are you going to put on something decent before we go?"

Looking down at his bare chest, Soul did the first thing that came to his instincts.

He slammed the door in her face.

This led him to the awkward walk to the cafeteria that Tsubaki and Soul were in now.

After several minutes of silence, he began to notice that the classrooms were empty. Every classroom was empty. For some reason, this made the halls seem as creepy as the one filled with guillotines.

Abruptly, Soul heard a soft rumble, which slowly grew louder. Soon, he distinguished the sound to be voices.

By the time Tsubaki led him to the two grand doors that marked the mess room, Soul was intimidated.

He had never seen so many people in his life. Nobility in his mother's palace would have quiet banquets of no more than fifteen, and so seeing all these _commoners _by the hundreds gave him a headache.

He felt a light tap on his shoulder and looked sideways at his guide.

"Um, Soul-san? Would you like to sit with me and my friends? Perhaps?"

She must've noticed how bewildered he looked. He nodded yes in confirmation, and she returned it with a small smile.

After a brief mishap with standing in line (he_ thought_ the food would be served to him while he was sitting), he found himself regretting his decision.

For he was surrounded by _idiots._

The blue-haired one had called him a "new commoner to serve my godly being," in which he snickered because of the irony. But then another guy with almost completely black hair sat down, _sobbing._

"Oh, people _scolded_ me for trying to seat them _symmetrically, _and now the entire cafeteria is…is…ruined!" at this he unleashed a loud, hiccup-y sob not meant for any man.

Two blond girls soon followed him, and while one tried to consol the endlessly weeping boy, the other started to make a giraffe out of carrots.

All in all, their table was a loud, sad mess.

Groaning, Soul scanned the large room for a window to jump out of. However, his eyes grazed two pigtails and he stopped.

There was Maka, only a few tables away!

"What are you looking at, Soul-san?" Tsubaki softly interjected.

The shy girl followed his gaze and found his target.

"Oh, Maka-san?"

"Yeah. Why is she sitting by herself?" Her eyes looked a little surprised to hear him respond, but she continued anyways.

"Eh? Soul-san, you know Maka-san? Well, it is said that she uses lunch for studying. And when people try to talk to her, she never really responds."

He snorted. The behavior was strangely fitting of her; not saying anything that is.

"But…"she paused, and then continued, "She has a reputation, you know. In all the honor classes, she gets all the top grades in the meisters' course…everyone is a little intimidated and afraid to approach her.

"Speaking of which…"her blue eyes shifted to him, "What are you? A meister or a weapon?"

Soul gulped uncomfortably, and spit out, "…weapon…" to which Tsubaki clapped in glee.

"That's wonderful! I'm a weapon too!"

And that surprised him, for he didn't think the bashful and sweet Tsubaki could become anything deadly. But thinking on the other hand, he didn't see her as someone like Maka, throwing knives and taking someone's life without caring.

"Do you have a partner yet?"

"Partner?"

"Well, each weapon gets a meister to use them, right? And every meister needs a weapon…or two," she added, glancing at what Soul had deemed the bipolar OCD guy.

"So they get matched up, depending on personality and special conditions."

"Oh. So who's your..?"

"Black Star." She said, and she looked over at the blue haired boy with a smile.

He secretly wondered how she even dealt with the hyper psycho, but he had more pressing issues.

"And what about…Maka?"

"Oh, that's her other reputation…" Soul cocked an eyebrow.

"She doesn't need one. Maka can match her soul wavelengths with every weapon in the academy."

…

Being in a classroom with other people was odd and unfamiliar.

But Soul had to accept that he was now a student at this hell of an academy, whether he liked it or not.

And he didn't like it. At. All.

First he had to go through everyone staring at him. For a moment, he was afraid his secret of being a prince had gone out. In the back of his mind, he thought it would be for the better if no one knew.

And after lunch, all the members of their table had gone separate ways—save Tsubaki, who guided him to this place and then ran off to get to her own.

So he knew absolutely no one.

A bulky teacher with tinted blue skin came in, and started to go off about wavelengths and soul resonance and a lot of more crap that Soul had no ideas about.

After a while, he gave up trying to follow along and fell asleep on his desk.

When the bell rang, he woke up at a start—and noticed the teacher waving him over.

Sure that he was going to be reprimanded, he slowly made his way down to the desk.

"Eater…"

"Eater?"

"Isn't that your last name? Soul Eater?"

He cringed at the ironic name. Whoever changed it must have done so to protect his identity, but he wished they could've chosen something more…tasteful.

"Um yes. That is me."

"Well, Eater, it seems like you have a special training session with Dr. Stein that begins in about half an hour. Would you like me to escort you to his training hall?"

"Yes. That would be much appreciated."

The professor looked slightly amused at his polite words, and then began going out of the classroom door, gesturing Soul to follow along.

After roaming around the hallways for a few minutes, they arrived at a spacious, slightly padded room. There were white lines on the floor to mark off sparring areas, but Soul barely noticed when someone cheerfully called his name.

He looked up to find the source, and was slightly disappointed when it was Tsubaki and not—

"Wait, why _are _you two here?"

Tsubaki and Black Star stood next to an older man, who he assumed was Professor Stein.

Indeed, he opened his mouth to confirm Soul's suspicions.

"Hello, Soul Eater. I'm Franken Stein, but you can just refer to me by my last name. Tsubaki and Black Star here are to assist us in today's lesson. Now, let's get started on your transformation, alright?"

"You want me to become…a monster weapon again?" Soul scoffed.

"Demon weapon, actually."  
>"No way," He crossed his arms in defiance.<p>

"Soul-san, you don't know how to transform?" Tsubaki looked confused while Black Star tried not to laugh (but failed).

His eyes flared. "Why should I? I only found out yesterday!"

The girl cringed and he immediately felt bad, but then watched as Black Star glared at him.

"Hey! Weird teeth! What do you mean, only found out yesterday? Did you live underneath a rock?"

"Now, now, calm down." began the teacher, as he reclined in his chair, "Yes; most demon weapons discover their powers at an early age. But Soul here is a special case, which is why I asked you and Tsubaki-san to help him."

Never breaking his eye contact with the angry meister, Soul continued.

"I'm not turning into a weapon. Ever. Again."  
>Stein sighed. "You have to."<p>

"It's painful. I don't even want to be in this idiotic academy."

"Then why don't you just freaking leave, you—

"Black Star!" The female weapon quickly grasped her meister's arm, and he calmed down considerably.

An awkward silence came after that. It was finally broken by Tsubaki herself.

"Um, Soul-san…it's alright, at first it is rather hard to transform…but after a while, you get the hang of it, so don't give up without trying."

With every pair of eyes on him, Soul crumbled. "Fine," He sighed, "I'll try."

…

50 minutes later, Soul was panting and trying to catch his breath.

"Ah, so having Black Star apply his wavelength doesn't really work…hmm…" Stein wrote down something on his clipboard.

"Dammit…I give up."

"But we've only started..!" urged Tsubaki.

"Don't worry about him, he's just un-transformable. _Useless_." Black Star spat.

"You must've transformed once," the raven haired weapon continued,

"How did it feel like then?"

Soul thought back to last night—was it only last night?—from the moment he left that silly banquet and to the second where Maka kissed him.

It was confusing and irritating and he didn't like it at all. Worse, he was hurting others. It just wasn't meant for him.

The blue haired twerp was right…maybe he was just useless as a demon weapon.

"Hello, everyone."

A new voice came from the doorway.

Looking up from his position on the ground, he noticed _her,_ book in hand and all.

"Ah, Soul _Eater_." She walked over to him, and whispered so only he could hear:

"_Like your new name?"_

~.~.~

**A/N: I hope it was satisfactory. And I'll try to get a new chapter up soon. **

**Thank you, everyone.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: WOW! Thank you everyone for your wonderful reviews! They really serve as the best inspiration.**

**Many Thanks to Ecronia, bluenian98, spoiledhalfbreed, Meet Albert. The Cupcake, Hannable, UnknownAlicex3, soul eater lover, XxSADDxX, shanagi95, and Better Than Waffles!**

**You guys are always so kind…I'm honored **

'~'Princess Charming'~'

Chapter 7

"You…you!" Soul snarled at the newcomer.

"What?" Maka questioned, with an innocent look in her eyes. "That is your name, right?"

He would've retorted and said, _'No, that isn't my name, I'm a freaking __Prince __remember?' _But Stein cleared his throat to cut him to it.

"Maka…thank you for coming."

Soul felt his anger redirect to the professor, who just adjusted his glasses and smiled at the new development.

"Anytime professor…although I hope we can wrap this up _quickly_, there's a paper I have to complete for next Thursday and…"

"If your famous reputation holds up, then I don't think you'll have to work with him for very long," Stein interrupted.

"A case like him is hopeless, even for Maka!" Black Star commented, hooting with laughter.

All eyes flashed to Soul again, and he felt like a specimen about to be dissected.

But Maka smiled a small smile, dropped her textbooks unceremoniously in Black Star's arms, and went to stand next to Soul.

"Give me five minutes with him...alone."

Everyone looked surprised, but Stein nodded slowly and ushered the other two out.

When the door closed with a thud, they were completely cut off from the outside world.

Without a beat of silence, she turned to him.

"So, let's get you to transform, okay?"

"I don't want to," Soul slumped down, pulling a face.

"But you _have to_, you see."

He opened his mouth to respond, but then he snapped it shut. No, he didn't _have to_…the girl could refuse to take his hand to help her get up, not listen to his complaints, be stubbornly quiet as hell, and Soul couldn't do a damn thing about it…but he _could _refuse to transform.

Feeling this newfound power swell in him, he stood up straight with a smirk.

"I don't _want to_ nor _have to_."

"What, do you want to look like a fool?"  
>"I don't care. I've been humiliated enough already…but <em>you<em> will!"

Her shocked expression was all he needed to laugh. Strike One against the demon girl.

She glared daggers at him and shouted in his face, "Don't make me do it the hard way, Prince!"

Soul flinched—not at the shouting, but at the use of his nickname. Unfortunately, Maka noticed.

"What, you don't like to be yelled at? Or is it just me calling you by your rightful title, _Your Royal Highness_?" She put on a mock, sweet smile.

"Cut it out!"

"Maybe you don't want _them _to know who you really are," she pointed to the still closed doorway, "Or else they'll see you for the spoiled brat you are, growing up in your castle—

"Shut up!"  
>"—without anyone that you could call a loyal friend."<p>

He stood in silence, humiliated at her words. The worst part is that some of it was true…well maybe not the friend part, he did have—

"Hey everyone!" She turned to the side and cupped her mouth in a defying manner.

"Guess what, Soul is really a—

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST SHUT UP!"

He roared at her with a hatred not even he knew he possessed. But her words were sadly true; he really didn't want anyone to know about his family.

Reeling back his arm, in a moment of madness, he tried to punch her, knowing that even she could never block it in time…

But then his fist disappeared.

The swirling vortex sucked his breath out of him, making his adrenaline rush turn from anger to blind, feral panic. The feeling was familiar, but that didn't make him any less prepared when he felt his body rematerialize into solid metal.

Maka caught him easily.

"And there we go. You make a nice scythe, Soul Eater."

"What's going on?"

The others stormed the room, instantly, and their eyes nearly popped out when they saw Soul's form.  
>"Ah…" Black Star's eyes nearly popped out of his head.<p>

"Soul-san, you did it!"

Maka turned them so that they faced a mirror on the wall. There, Soul could see the meister holding a long metallic rod attached with an oddly colored blade. And it felt strange because he felt as if though his entire physical being was trapped in his mind.

He could transform. But it wasn't a satisfying victory.

A small part of him had hoped that last night was just a mistake, a fluke that meant that he was just temporarily abnormal.

But now, he really was a freak of nature.

It was hard to ignore the signs when they were laid out in front of you.

"I'm screwed, aren't I?"

He was surprised that he could speak, since the voice came out of seemingly nowhere.

"Yes." Came a firm answer, and Maka's reflection gave a small smile of sadness.

…

The nightmares came again that night.

"_Nii-chan?" _

_A small figure sat in the middle of a bed of flowers. Soul hazily watched as she turned to him and smiled._

"_Look Nii-chan! I made a crown for Mommy!"_

_His eyes directed to the delicate ring of flowers encased in her small hands._

"_Mommy might not like that, you know."_

_The girl's face fell. Soul continued. "Mommy has many crowns already. Gold ones, silver ones…"_

"_But," she suddenly looked up at him, "Mommy doesn't have one made of flowers, does she."_

_She had him there. With a sigh, he easily scooped up the girl in his arms._

"_Fine, fine. You can give it to her. Honestly, she's not even like a real mother!"_

_Her big eyes turned to look at something in the distance._

"_But Mommy is still Mommy, isn't she…"_

_He cocked his head in confusion._

_Suddenly, the girl's face morphed. One moment she turned into a grotesque shape of darkness, the next, her own but stained with ringlets of tears._

"_MOMMY…"her voice transformed with her words, eerily cracking and changing pitch. "IS STILL…MOMMY…"_

_Her face suddenly stopped, as if it had chosen an identity._

_It was his mother._

"…_Isn't she?" She smiled wickedly and laughed._

Soul sprang up from his pillow, his forehead drenched in sweat.

He put his hand to his rapid heart and clutched the fabric there, as if he couldn't really sense that he was in reality now.

"Soul…-san?"

Tsubaki knocked timidly on the door again, and this time he stole a breath to make sure he didn't explode on her like he did before.

"I'll be right there!" he yelled, dragging off the sheets and grabbing something decent to wear.

When he finally opened the door, she stood there smiling as usual.

"Good Morning!"

"…Morning."

"Today we have a lot to do! First there's breakfast, and then we'll partner you up, and then maybe…"  
>"Wait. Partner me up?"<p>

"Oh, yes! You see, there are always a few oddballs that need new partners, so every few weeks or so we hold a gathering so that people can buddy up! Isn't that a wonderful thing?"

"Not really."

The girl's smile faltered a bit, but she persisted.

"Well then, let's get going to the cafeteria."

The walked in somewhat comfortable silence, but as Soul replayed their conversation in his mind, something struck him.

"Wait. Why would people need _new _partners? I thought, once you had one…"he trailed off.

She stiffened a bit under Soul's gaze, and refused to look him in the eye.

"O-oh. Well, sometimes partners don't really get along so they find new ones. Or maybe one decides that they don't really enjoy training at Shibusen, so they drop out. And, very occasionally…"

He quirked an eyebrow. "Occasionally _what_?"

"Occasionally," Tsubaki's eyes dropped to the floor, "A partner dies in battle."

Soul blinked once. Then twice.

"That would…suck."

"Yes, it would, huh? Ahahahaha."

"I mean, if Maka were to—" he clamped his hand over his mouth, but it was too late.

For some reason, when Tsubaki had mentioned dying, he immediately thought of _her, _battered and broken. But now, Soul was reassessing his thoughts.

Why was he thinking of Maka! They weren't partners, and she could most certainly take care of herself, but…

…Unknowingly, a strange urge to protect her had blossomed.

Tsubaki snapped out of it and looked at him with her big blue eyes.

"Eh? Maka-san?"

"Never mind, I just…"  
>He didn't have to say anything more because they had arrived at the large, crowded hall. Breathing out a sigh of relief, he followed Tsubaki into the line and they walked to the table together.<p>

Black Star still glared at him when Soul sat down, but didn't say a word.

However, he noticed that OCD bipolar guy was _not _crying today, and was instead pushing around the food on his plate with a frown.

Deciding he would have to meet this guy eventually, he took a couple bites of breakfast, swallowed, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"…Hey. My name is Soul. Soul…Eater." He tried his very hardest not to flinch.

The strange dark haired boy cleared his throat and turned to him.

"Nice to make your acquaintance Soul, my name is—OHMYHOLYSHINIGAMI, _YOUR HAIR IS ASSYMMETRICAL_!"

He immediately retreated away from the screaming lunatic, but he just followed him into his seat.

"How can you _STAND _looking like that? It's way too random and not at ALL organized and, and…"he started hyperventilating, and in a flash the blond woman from the day before rushed to his side.

"Aw great, look what you _did_." She stated sharply in his direction.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"The name's Liz. And this here," she poked the uncontrollable guy's cheek, "Is Death the Kid, our meister."

Death the Kid? And Soul thought _his _name was weird.

She whipped around and went back to her ailing meister, cooing things like, "Hey, look at how nice and symmetrical this fork is, Kid!"

Soul turned away awkwardly and felt like slamming his head into the table.

But all of the sudden, the bell rang and people made their way out of their seats to get to their classes.

Tsubaki was by his right, pulling on his arm and telling him that it was time to meet the other partner-less weapons.

He sighed. Today was going to be a long day.

~.~.~

**A/N: Don't worry guys! Maka and Soul will be partners soon…**

**Please review~They never cease to make me smile **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I'm baaacccckkk! Sorry for the wait as usual, things have been insane.**

**All my thanks to everythingisbetterwithnutella (I have to agree with that), TechnoFire, mabello, shanagi95, Hannahble, Butterfree(who wrote several, muchos gracias!), Starlight-Ninja, AliceNightmare, aqua-love-angel-13, karolinami132, and cOokIe-MOnzTa!**

'~'Princess Charming'~'

Chapter 8

Honestly, Soul had expected more at the "Partner Gathering." Any sort of 'gathering' at his house meant a party or a full blown banquet, devoid of happiness but still fancy nonetheless.

"Here," said the stout man as he gave him a piece of paper.

Soul turned the red and white sheet in his palm. "What is this?"

The man raised his eyebrows. "A nametag sticker. Ever heard of it?"

At this, Tsubaki interrupted and showed Soul how to write his name on it.

"…and make sure to write "Weapon" underneath, okay?" she smiled warmly.

Within moments he found himself in the midst of a huge crowd of common folk.

The first person who tried to talk to him wore geeky glasses and constantly had to snort up his snot. Soul avoided shaking hands.

"Hi! My name is George!"

"Uh, hi, I'm—

"Soul! Right? It says so on your nametag, right? So, how long have you been here? I just got here two weeks ago. Still looking for a partner, though. It's so weird! Hey, do you want some chocolate?" At this, George pulled out a half-melted candy bar.

"No thank you…" _Unless I want to get infected with that horrible sniffing of yours._

In horror, Soul watched as the boy dumped the whole thing in his mouth, wrapping and all. Sensing an opening, he quickly slipped away to the balcony.

Just as he closed the door, a voice coughed behind him.

Soul nearly jumped. "Did I scare you?"

He turned around to see another young man with a glass of…was that alcohol?

"Good evening," the stranger continued.

Soul thought he looked ridiculous. Wearing full suit and drinking a flute of champagne…in the middle of the morning? He watched as a bead of sweat dripped down the young man's forehead.

His eyes flicked to the nametag. "Boris..? And you're a meister?"

"Guess so," Boris said as he nonchalantly took a sip.

"I'm a…" Soul felt his throat close with the remaining denial, "…demon weapon. I need a partner."

"Good for you."

"And you need one too."

"Oh, no."

Soul sputtered. "But, but…"

"I have one already. Susan, you met her?"

"You're here at the Partner Gathering. Doesn't that mean you need a weapon?"

Soul watched as Boris paused, mid-drink. He flashed his darkened eyes towards Soul's.

"What did you say?"

Soul continued to inquire. "Did you not get along with your old weapon, and now you need a new one or something?"

"SUSAN AND I GET ALONG FINE!" Boris roared as he sent the glass flying in Soul's direction.

Soul took a step left and avoided it. "What was that?"  
>"Susan and I are fine! Susan is my one and only partner! I don't even want to be here at this stupid fuc—<p>

"Boris-san! Stop!"

A flash of black went past him and quickly apprehended the madman. Soul realized a second later that it was Tsubaki.

"Boris-san! Don't attack Soul-san!"

"He's the one that is making fun of me! Saying I need a new one…ha!"

"Boris-san."

Both of the boys quieted at Tsubaki's serious tone.

"We both know that Susan-san _isn't with us any longer_."

Soul's stomach lurched. He had forgotten about the third reason why someone would need a new partner.

"You don't understand," the boy, dejected, spat.

"I do. I've lost a partner as well."

The prince looked up from his shoes. Tsubaki met his eyes with a solemn expression.

"My old meister. My brother."

…

"It was four years ago. We were on a recon mission. It was in some dangerous territory, and we got surrounded. There was a bomb, and—

Tsubaki paused for a moment, and Soul watched as she smudged away a lone tear. "…he threw me, in weapon form, away while he covered it. I got a few scratches, but nothing else. The bomb scared the attackers off, I think. I don't remember much."  
>"I'm sorry." Soul replied.<p>

"Don't be," Tsubaki smiled, "You had nothing to do with it."

The gathering was for the most part over. Most people had found someone to partner up with—even that one George kid. Boris had run off and left, and Soul and Tsubaki were still outside as she told her story.

He was interrupted from his thoughts with a tap on his shoulder.

"You're that new guy, right?" asked what looked to be a twelve year old boy with ginger hair.

"Yeah. I'm Soul."

"Is it true that you're a wuss who can't transform?"

Soul's eyes narrowed. The nerve!

"What? Of course I can." He felt his pride swirling up inside of him.

"I hope you do. You need to, or else…"

"I know, I know, I'm a useless weapon, right? Well, I can transform."

"Prove it." The boy held out his hands, ready to catch his scythe form.

"Alright, since you asked for it…"  
>Soul closed his eyes and felt his body begin to bend and rearrange…<p>

…or not.

His eyes popped open. Why wasn't it working?

"Soul-san, perhaps you should wait…"

"No, thank you Tsubaki, but I think I can."

He closed his eyes again. Still nothing. Zilch. Nada.

The panic and humiliation started to set in. It wasn't bad enough that he was a freak, now he couldn't even control his freak powers?

Meanwhile, the rude boy started grinning. "Hey everyone, this guy can't transform!"

All eyes were immediately on him. A crowd started to form, and he could do nothing but silently hope and wish that he could change already.

"Oh, what's this?"

Soul's ears suddenly heard _her_ voice from the mob.

"That weapon boy with the weird hair can't transform."

"Sure he can!" Maka insisted, placing her hands on her hips. "You just have to appeal to his emotions."

"What, what?" stuttered Soul.

Maka looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "You didn't figure it out yet? Every time you let your emotions get the better of you, I can get you to transform."

Before he could respond, she was right next to him, her lips a millimeter away from his ear.

"See? Transform for me, _Prince_."

He would've protested if it was not for the foreign feeling of having all of his guts twist and turn. There was no longer any pain, but he still felt like the wind was being sucked out of him.

In a flash of light, he was a mighty scythe once more.

"Soul Eater can transform if he tries, right?" Maka smirked a bit and the kid looked up at his daunting shape with terror.

Soul couldn't help but feel happy that he could transform again. And he felt cool by the way everyone was staring at him. But most of all he felt grateful for Maka.

Wait, _for Maka_?

He transformed back quickly…and ended up being carried by the talented meister bridal style.

Blushing, he tried to get off and fell undignified to the floor.

"I wanna try now!" the ginger boy screamed in his ear.

"Come again?"

"You were so cool! And deadly looking! Why didn't you tell me you were a scythe?"

"Um…"

"Scythes are actually pretty rare, you know," chirped in Tsubaki (who Soul had almost forgotten in the confusion). "I only know of one other one."

"I wanna try! Transform!" The boy held out his hands again, and even though Soul willed himself to repeat the transformation, his heart wasn't into it.

Nothing happened.

After a while, he pouted. "How come you only transform for her, anyways?"

"I don't know." Soul meant it. For some reason, that demon girl was the only one who could get him to react and transform properly. The crowd was silenced.

"Interesting."

"Professor Stein."

"Maka. How are you?"

"Fine. Why are you here, Professor?"

"I'm collecting data, of course. I mean, isn't it interesting how…" he closed his mouth suddenly, and Soul watched him scan the crowd.

"…can we perhaps move to somewhere more secluded? Maka? Soul?"

Maka blinked, not fazed as usual. "Sure. Let's go, Prince."

Before he could protest he felt her hand grip his arm in a rough manner.

"I'm coming along, quit dragging me!"

…

"So what did you want to talk about, Professor Stein?"

Soul yawned. Stein had led them through the never ending maze of Shibusen until they finally arrived in a creepy dark room. It was like a hospital, but with no extra frills to make the place even _seem _to look comfortable.

Stein had fondly called it his lab.

"Just wanted to share some simple observations," Stein started to say, "…that I noticed about your good friend Soul Eater."

"Like what?" Soul spat.

Stein just smiled. "So how long have you known that you were a weapon?"

"Three days ago."

"Yes, the day before the day before yesterday. See, that by itself is an oddity. Most weapons realize their powers by the age of five. But what made you so different, so special…"

"Sealed."

Soul looked away from the professor to Maka. Where did that come from?

Even Stein seemed surprised. "Sealed? Care to explain, Maka?"

"He was sealed. When I went to get him, I noticed it on his soul. There was a…" her eyes narrowed in frustration, "…chain or something. Right around his soul…trapping it."

"And I take it that you somehow broke the seal?"

Without missing a beat, Soul's mind flashed back to that night in the bedroom, her face incredibly near to his right before she..!

"I did. I had to, to escape."

"And now it seems like he won't transform with anyone other than you. Well, that settles it." Stein closed his notebook and spun around in his chair.

Soul looked at Maka and then back at the strange teacher. "Settles what?"

"From this day forward, you two will be partners."

"WHAT?"

Soul blinked. Never had he seen Maka lose her cool like this. Her face was red with anger, fists curled up and eyes bright with fury. She looked ready for a fight.

"I don't need a partner. You know this."

"You may not need one, but Soul sure does. And who better to train him than you, Shibusen's star prodigy?"

Maka gritted her teeth. "Professor Stein, you can't do this! I have a direct agreement with Shinigami-sama that..!"

"I know. I have already talked to him about this."

His newfound meister was immediately silenced, and Soul had to suppress a chuckle.

"He also agrees that perhaps this is the best for you both. Also, I have high enough qualifications to assign you both to each other."

Soul finally found his voice. "I thought you were just a teacher."

Stein's gray eyes looked amused. "Let's just say I'm high enough in Shibusen to know _all _about you, _Prince Soul Eater Evans_."

…

The entire day was like another one of those nightmares he hated.

First, the lame gathering. Then, he found out he couldn't transform without Maka. And now they were partners.

Real partners. Soul was Maka's weapon, and she was his meister.

He rubbed his forehead. It was still really hard to wrap his mind around.

"Hurry up your lazy princely ass."

"Watch it," Soul said as he crossed his arms.

He immediately regretted the comment as she stopped, spun on her heel, and glared at him.

"Do you want to fight? Because I could really use one right about now."

He knew. She had been in a foul mood since their meeting with Stein, and it didn't seem like it would go away anytime soon. Even after Stein had told them that the weird masked headmaster was on _his _side, Maka had insisted on calling him up on a mirror, just to make sure.

"What a splendid idea! I approve!" was all the death god said. And that was that.

Before he knew it, Maka was pushing him towards his dorm. After grabbing his few meager possessions, they were on the move again.

It was after they exited the spiky building that Soul dared to speak.

"Um, where are we going?"

"I don't live in the dorms. I have an apartment just a few blocks away."

"Oh…so why are we going there?"

Maka huffed. "It's your new home, idiot."

Soul's eyes widened. "We have to live together?"

"Is this seriously your first time hearing about it? Pay attention in class," She paused to clear her throat, "…new partners must always live within close proximity in order to increase the chance of a successful Soul Resonance."

Soul wrinkled his nose. "Soul…Resonance?" The phrase sounded foreign.

"It's when two souls combine to provide power. The better they synch, the stronger the attack…or that's what the books say."

It was the uncertainty that made him catch up a few steps and look at her face. Her expression was hard as always, but she looked a bit uncomfortable.

"You've never had one."

She grimaced, but quickly recovered. "I can match my soul wavelength up to anyone."

"So I've heard. But..?"

"…but for some reason we can never synchronize long enough for Soul Resonance."

"That must suck."

"It does."

He looked at her in a new light…literally, because the sun was just about to set and the last rays of light sort of caught her hair in a mesmerizing way. But figurative language aside, Soul noticed that she wasn't that big compared to him. She just always seemed that way. And he knew she was a girl from when she first saw him, but he forgot somewhere along their endless journey that she was also _human_.

Maka's voice interrupted his thoughts. "We're here."

They stood in front of the building until Maka found her keys. Then, they stepped inside to find a set of stairs.

Soul groaned. He really didn't feel like walking anymore.

"Want me to carry you?"

He turned to see her smiling again, in that unique way that was both bright and cunning.

"I think I can make it up a flight of stairs," he smiled back.

"Alright then, _Prince._"  
>Within seconds they were in the second story and in front of her door.<p>

Soul wasn't really sure what to expect from her apartment, but it was actually a bit plain. The only thing out of place was that it was nearly stuffed with books.

He peered around the corner to the hallway. Suddenly, panic seized him.

"Wait, do we have to share…"

"Relax, I have an extra bedroom. But we do have to share the bathroom."

He sighed with relief. As if living alone with a girl wasn't indecent enough!

Soul stopped himself, pondering on that last thought. Stein and the headmaster must've known that the two would have to live together. Shouldn't they have been worried about the two being alone? Usually, girls and boys, when they were alone…

A hand tapped his shoulder and he jumped.

"Wh-what do you want?"

Maka's eyes held amusement. "I told you to relax, right? Anyways…"she stuck out her hand.

He stared at it, ruby eyes flicking between Maka and her hand, unsure what to do.

"You're supposed to shake it."

Cautiously, Soul lifted his own hand to firmly grasp hers.

Maka stared him right in the eyes and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

"I may not have been exactly willing, but I can't go against Shinigami-sama's wishes. So it looks like from now on, we'll have to trust each other."

"I already do," Soul said with surprise. Since when did he trust the crazy violent girl?

But as soon as he said those words, she smiled and shook his hand.

"Partners?"

"Partners."

And he felt like they had shared a little bit of their souls.

~.~.~


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hello! Man, time flew by fast, huh? Many thanks to Urban Shakes, shanagi95, senbonzakura, HevenlyDemonicAngel, Tofu-san, aqua-love-angel-13, everythingisbetterwithnutell a, Random person number 8, xviolettx, Starlight-Ninja, BlessedRain, annnnndddd Black blooded! Seriously, you guys are the only reason I even bother with updating (and even then I'm so lazy, sorry!).**

'~'Princess Charming'~'

Chapter 9

The nightmares came back, but with a twist, as if his subconscious felt like torturing him even _more _than usual. The dream blood, he could handle. The strange little girl and flashbacks of his mother were creepier, but still manageable.

But then Maka was thrown into the mix.

It was mainly memories: Bandits attacking, holding him in her arms, telling him she'd stay with him always, the blush on her cheeks that night at the inn, the brush of her lips upon his…

That last one threw him for a loop. He remembered waking up, panting, only to greet the cold stare of the white ceiling.

He didn't like Maka. Even though he never had what commoners would call a "crush", he had seen enough pretty maids to know what his type was. And a loud, dangerous, and (dare he think it?) small-chested girl was _not _anywhere close to what he usually liked.

Now, if only he could beat that into his sleeping brain.

Soul woke up to the source of his torture banging on his door.

"_Wake up, Prince!" _BANG BANG BANG. _"We're going to be late for class!"_

He looked to the side lazily as routine. Scooting closer to the wall, he extended one fingernail and made a small mark in the peeling paint.

There were sixteen in total, one for each day since he had been abducted.

"_I will break down this door!" _came his muffled _meister's _voice.

He walked over to the door and opened it.

"Soul, you—

Her next words died on her lips. Soul raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"N-nothing. Just get ready!" she quickly turned around, but not before he caught the light cherry-pink on her cheeks.

The demon girl? Blushing? He didn't get it, and stumbled over to the restroom instead of responding.

Just before he closed the door, Maka decided to respond for him.

"And put on a shirt already!"

…

He tugged at the collar of his shirt. It was a rather ugly mustard yellow and black thing that they had bought a few days back when it became clear that his wardrobe needed to expand. Soul had wanted a nicer, more familiar looking tunic, but Maka informed him that the money they loaned from Shibusen couldn't cover even half of it.

Still, sweat pooled at his brow under the hot desert sun.

"Is there anyway to get to the stupid school faster?"

"Watch your tongue. Shibusen Academy is a prestigious…"

"Yeah, yeah, a prestigious learning center to study souls, etc etc. I just don't see why the teachers can't just come to us!"

Maka looked up from the book she was reading (while walking, Soul had noticed). "Well, sorry if this is new to you Prince, but not all of us can afford private tutors."

"I can."

"Could."

He crossed his arms. "Fine. I could."

They continued like that for a while, in silence. His mind had taken to trying to go over last night's nightmares and deciphering them. Little girl who seemed familiar, check. Disapproving mother, check. Kissing Maka in an endless cycle, check—

"But there might be a way to get there faster."

"Huh?" Soul stumbled.

"You said you wanted to get to Shibusen faster, right?"

"Uh, yes. I did say that."

Without skipping a beat, she continued. "I have to ask Shinigami-sama, but I think there's an old bike in the storage rooms somewhere…"

The prince's eyebrows furrowed. "A…bike?"

She stopped reading. "It's a relatively new invention called a motorcy—oh, that's right. I forgot that your world isn't as advanced."

"Huh? You're not making any sense."

She stopped to pat his head like a dog, which he immediately frowned at.

"Let's just say that Death City is a _little _bit different from the rest of the world, okay?"

"Hmph. You say that _now_."

The sun continued to laugh at his discomfort.

…

"Good! And again!"

Soul groaned as prepared to change back into a weapon. Once the world had flipped again, he looked at a nearby clock.

Just three more minutes until lunch.

"Okay Prince! Change back!"

He went through the sensation of shifting once more.

"Can we stop now?" Soul asked between pants. "It's almost lunch time."

Maka frowned at him, but didn't respond right away.

"One more exercise. You're years behind and have to catch up, you know."

Soul straightened himself again.

"Okay, this time…try to transform just your arm."

"Huh?"

"You heard me. What if I was down and you needed to defend yourself?"

"I highly doubt that you would go down before me."

She smirked. "I know. But still, better to be safe than sorry."

With a sigh, Soul corrected his stance to stick out his arm.

"Okay, now close your eyes."

Her voice was oddly soothing. Like someone blinded with hypnosis, Soul let his eyelids drop.

"Focus all your energy on your arm…and let it transform…just like that, yes…"

The doors burst open.

"Maka-sama! I have a message from Lord Spirit!"

Soul's eyes snapped open to see the bluish glow of his arm fizzle with his concentration.

Maka, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice. She seemed to glare at the oddly dressed servant at the door, but for some reason her vermillion eyes carried a hint of trepidation.

"Tell him that I'm currently busy with someone," she commanded.

"I'm afraid I can't do that…Lord Spirit will..!"

"I don't particularly _care_ what he will or will not do..." and then her voice dropped, "…any random woman will surely distract him from his duties."

For some reason, the nervous messenger continued to try to convince her. "Maka-sama, it doesn't seem like you are too busy to pay respects to your—

"Does it _look_ like I have any sort of time…" Maka's voice was suddenly overpowered by the bells that signaled the lunch break.

With an irritated huff, she stormed out the door without giving a second glance to Soul.

The two remaining men held an awkward eye lock until both got up to go after her.

Within minutes, Soul found himself in a courtyard, where an intricate if not pompous black carriage was pulled up in the midst of admiring students.

His meister was right in the middle of the crowd, and the students parted like the waves of the ocean.

He could hear her voice booming from where he was standing.

"I know you're in there! Get out, you coward!"

As if on command, the servant from earlier scrambled to open up the carriage door. Soul held his breath as the object of Maka's anger stepped outside into the sunlight.

"MAAAAAKKKKKAAAA!"

A flash of red suddenly latched itself onto the surprised meister. With a small bubble of panic, Soul found himself running into the crowd to get to Maka.

"Oh Maka! How Papa missed you, you look so grown up!"

"Papa, get off of me!"

Soul slowed down.

_Papa?_

For some reason, it never even occurred to him that Maka might have relatives…and if she did, he was not expecting this fool of a man to be her father.

His memories of his _own_ father were few, but all of his ex-servants would tell him how he was well respected as the King of Evanlan. Stern, but with a fair heart. Exactly what they all hoped he would be so he could replace his manipulative mother as soon as possible.

What did they think of him now? He had disappeared, gone into a new land, with a new purpose away from his hefty social obligations…but what was his purpose now?

The students next to him began to whisper.

"Wow, a real Death Scythe, huh?"

"Word is, once you get to Death Scythe status, you're set for life; funded by Shibusen AND Shinigami-sama!"

"Whoa!"

His eyes flicked back to Maka. Was Maka…rich? And what was a Death Scythe? Even the words themselves sounded ominous.

She had finally gotten him to let go, and now looked deflated more than furious. "Papa, what are you doing here?"

"Can't a concerned father just check up on his _cute,_ _little girl_?"

Both Soul and Maka twitched. Soul absentmindedly wondered if this 'Lord Spirit' knew that his _cute little girl_ could kill men without batting an eyelash.

"I'm perfectly fine, Papa," Maka replied in monotone, as if this was something she rehearsed.

"Are you sure? How are you handling things? Do you need money or anything, because if you're ever in trouble—

"Shibusen provides me with enough money to eat," she interrupted, "as long as I complete my missions."

Spirit's eyes softened. "Alright, but you know how I get concerned right? With your Mama out exploring the world and you in Shibusen...oh, Stein told me that you got a partner!"

At this, the memory of Soul seemed to flit past Maka's mind. "That's right, I need to go back to...!" they locked eyes, "Oh, there you are, Prince!"

Soul could feel the entire crowd suddenly turn upon him and saw jaws drop as the infamous Maka introduced him to her father as her partner.

Spirit himself regarded him with an odd look, most likely due to his weird looks, but reached out to shake his hand anyways.

"So, you're Maka's partner, hmm?" The redhead gave a glance to the surrounding students. "I think I'd like to talk to you somewhere more…private. How about I take you two out to lunch?"

Both pairs of eyes flashed to Maka.

She sighed. "Fine."

…

"Ahhh! It's always nice to sit somewhere stable after a bumpy carriage ride, don't you think so?"

Soul weakly smiled in response. The few minutes it took them to reach the fancy restaurant were tense. Maka had refused to speak the entire time.

"Well then, choose whatever you want, my angel!" Then, he turned towards Soul. "The royal Prince of Evanlan can select anything as well, of course."

Soul straightened. "How did you…"

"As a noble in Death City, I have to keep my tabs on _all_ the royals." He took a slow drink from his wine glass. "Even the ones that don't exactly come from around here."

All was silent again until a pretty waitress came by to take their orders. Soul's perceptive eyes caught the way the Death Scythe subtly flirted with her, and watched as Maka's eyes darkened.

After they got their food, Spirit continued. "I've actually met your mother once…She was a fine woman, that Queen of Evanlan."

Maka nearly choked on her food. "Papa! Don't tell me you…!"

"No, my angel, I didn't make any advances on her…your Papa loves your Mama very much you know—

"Then explain why she decided to 'take a trip' three years ago and didn't come back!" Maka burst.

Soul could feel the atmosphere shift and suddenly felt like he was witnessing something not for him to see.

Pain flashed through Spirit's eyes. "Maka…"

She abruptly stood up. "I'm going back to school."

"Maka, please, wait…!"

The door to the restaurant slammed shut. Soul awkwardly stood up, but then didn't know whether he should follow her or not.

"Soul…Soul was it?" he heard a weak voice say.

"Yeah?" He turned his head to the right, where Spirit sat dejectedly.

"I know that maybe I don't have the right to say this, but please, be a good partner for my baby. She needs someone to protect her…and I don't think I can anymore."

He felt a lump in his throat for the pitiful man. Soul didn't really know how to comfort people, so he chose his next words carefully.

"I'll…try my best as a weapon to protect her, alright?"

Spirit lifted his head and barely smiled, but then looked confused. "Weapon? You're not her meister?"

"…no?"

"That's strange."

He felt to urge to ask more, but he knew that he already learned too much about the mysterious girl that day.

"Well, bye then."

…

He found her in the training room.

She was facing a punching bag, hitting it with all of her body behind her hits and kicks.

When the door closed behind him with a click, she spun around.

"Who's there—oh, it's you, Soul."

He frowned. Something felt wrong: she didn't say his nickname in the spunky voice he had grown accustomed to.

"Are you…okay?"

"_Yes_," she hissed. Once again, she turned to the battered bag.

Soul watched her back as she poured out all her frustration on the intimate object. Her slender neck was exposed, and there was the tell-tale shine of sweat upon her skin. His mind wondered if any of it was mixed with tears.

"Hey…" he started, but she made no indication that she heard him, "…how about we skip the rest of today?"

Now _that _got her attention. "What? You mean school?"

"Not like you don't know everything already…" he shrugged.

"Why should we skip Shibusen? You have a lot to learn, coming in so late in the school year," a thoughtful expression passed through her face, "If you give me one good reason, I'll let it pass."

Soul said the first thing that came to his mind. "I need to buy something."

"Oh really? What?"

"Uh…" his ruby eyes scanned the floor and landed on her bag, "How about some books?"

She snorted, but he could see that her resolve to fight wasn't really there anymore. "Since when do you read literature, Prince?"

"I'll buy a book for you."

"With what money?" At this point, her smirk had grown to a small smile.

"I can pay you back, eventually."

She paused, and then moved to pack up things. "Fine, let's go."

He felt victorious that things were going his way for once, and in a civil manner to boot. His gaze fell upon her pushing the heavy bag into storage. It was so like her not to ask for help, even though the thing was threatening to fall over and crush her small frame.

Without a word, he scooped the punching bag away and dumped it in the closet.

"Hey, I was handling that!"

"Well, maybe I'm just getting impatient."

"Sorry things don't happen at your command like back at home, Prince."

He laughed, and her cheeks reddened from embarrassment.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go!" She pushed him out the doors, but Soul continued to have a shadow of a smile on his face.

_She needs someone to protect her…_

The old man's words were making sense, kind of…

It felt crazy, but Soul was pretty sure he found a new purpose.

~.~.~


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Many thanks to Rokuchuchu, aqua-love-angel-13, BlessedRain, shanagi95, Dancing in Crimson, Hfanfiction, ELMOSWURLDisscary, Starlight-Ninja, 2clap, hyblueluvr, and Luanne for reviewing!...Thank you for not giving up on me yet. Yes, I update horribly, but come hell or high water, this story WILL have an ending.**

'~'Princess Charming'~'

Chapter 10

"You just _had _to get the entire collection of the Oxford English Dictionary."

"Well, you _are_ a rich old Prince, after all."

Soul groaned and almost wanted to comment that she could have all the money she needed if she only asked her weird father, but he held himself back.

"Yeah, but all twenty volumes? That's just cruel."

Maka smiled, holding the first book in her hands and marveling at the cover. "Whatever, I've been dying to get the OED for forever!"

Glancing up at the laughing sun, Soul was surprised when Maka spoke softly again.

"I've always asked Papa to get it for me for Christmas, but he always gave me something more 'befitting of a girl my age...'"

Soul crossed his arms as he let his curiosity finally get the better of him.

"What is up with him, anyways? Does he not realize that you're more than capable of taking care of yourself?"

Maka hesitated for just a moment, her brow furrowed with thought.

"Well, he never really wanted me to join Shibusen in the first place…I don't think he believes that I'm cut out to be a meister."

"Are you kidding me?" Soul huffed in mild anger. "I've never met anyone that can defend herself as well as you can."

Maka's eyes flicked towards him cautiously. "…You really think so, Soul?"  
>They stopped walking for a moment. The book in Maka's hands was ignored as weapon and meister locked eyes.<p>

Soul took a deep breath and crossed his arms. "I know so." He cringed at how his words sounded so un-cool, but he meant it. Maka could be cold and harsh, but her skills were undeniable. However, he barely had time to ponder on that thought as Maka grabbed his arm.

"Come on, Soul, we've got to get back to Shibusen before curfew."

"Huh? I thought classes were over for today…"

"Yeah, but I have some errands I need to do back at school. Plus," she smiled, "…I talked to Shinigami-sama. He said that since no one was using that old bike, we could take it!"

He tugged back on her arm in a hopeless effort to slow down the whirlwind of a girl. "Alright alright, but slow down will you? And you never told me what a 'bike' was."

She turned her head towards him, her champagne hair catching the setting sun.

"You'll see, _Prince_."

…

"Is this the…bike?"

Maka rolled her eyes. "No, Prince, this is what we here at Shibusen like to call the Mission Board." She tapped the wall for emphasis.

Soul gazed upon the rows of paper pinned onto the simple green board. Maka hummed slightly as she went from sheet to sheet, letting her eyes glaze over each paragraph quickly until she finally stopped at one slip of paper.

"There we go. Three stars, Pre-Kishin terrorizing Death City's town square. Shouldn't be a problem."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Three stars?"

"Yeah, that's the difficulty. One star for easy, two for medium, and three," she paused to reveal a confident grin, "for only the most deadly of Pre-Kishins."  
>There was a moment in the air where Soul just stared at Maka blankly. The meister's smile faltered.<p>

"What's a Kishi—

"You don't even know what a KISHIN is?!"

It had been a while since Soul had witnessed Maka being so livid. Her eyes became bright and angry, and her hair almost seemed to fly around as she slammed her gloved palms on her small hips.

"Have you been _not _been listening to your lectures or what?"

At this, Soul bristled. "I have! But it's all, 'the amazing anatomy of the soul' and 'a sound soul requires a sound body and a sound blah blah blah'…"

Maka calmed down for just a moment, which effectively shut Soul up. What was up in her bookish brain now?

"Right, I forgot that you're only in the theoretical class. Have you done any sparring sessions?"

"Besides practicing with you? Nothing, yet."

He watched as she thought over this new information. Suddenly, her eyes lit up with understanding.

"I do believe the first years begin sparring in their second semester…which is in a few months…ugh, that's inconvenient."

"You still haven't answered me. What's. A Kishin?"

"Calm down, Prince. Okay, so remember how everyone has a soul in the world?"

"Yes."

"Well, sometimes people are greedy and decide to get more power by…eating other's pure souls."

"Oh." Soul's eyes widened. "That doesn't sound…good."

"Right. Ruthless murder in order to gain power only results in having your own soul tarnished. Once a soul is no longer pure, it is called a Kishin Egg. Owners of Kishin Eggs are called Pre-Kishins because if they consume enough…they become full fledged Kishins."

"…Are Kishins really that powerful?"

Maka looked him ominously dead in the eyes.

"To my knowledge, there's only ever been one being that made it to full Kishin status. Basically, those who do have powers equal to that of Shinigami-sama himself."

"So they're gods?"

"Essentially, yes..." she turned the mission notice over in her hand, "…Which is why we hunt any Pre-Kishin down."

A shiver ran down Soul's spine. The thought of _everyone_ in this strange academy training to take down…monsters was insane! Like Tsubaki! He couldn't see poor, shy Tsubaki slicing a Pre-Kishin or whatever in half.

The ex-prince cleared his throat. "So that's all you do all day? Study and take down Pre-Kishins?"

Maka smiled. "Well, since I'm a bit advanced…"

Soul scoffed. "_A bit?_"

"…I sometimes get direct missions from Shinigami-sama himself. Such as rescuing an unwilling Prince-in-distress."

"Okay, okay, I got it. So when do we do this mission?"

Maka turned to a small window in the opposite wall to claim her task as "In Progress."

"We? There is no 'we'. You've barely mastered transforming, so there's no way I can bring you along."

'Whaaaa? That's just…unfair!"

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to unnecessarily endanger your life."

"We're partners, remember? I'm," Soul paused, "…I'm your _weapon_. We can take down the Pre-Kishin together."

By now, the two had left the Mission Board hallway and were walking through the maze of Shibusen halls.

"I can handle it myself, Prince. I'll just use my knives."

"I still don't understand why I can't go with you."  
>They finally reached the entrance of the school, and Maka sighed.<p>

"Look, when Shinigami-sama sent me to get you, he didn't say why, but I could sense that it was for an important reason. It was imperative that you attend Shibusen so that you could remain safe and hone your skills. I don't think anyone would be too happy if you got injured just because you tagged along on a mission that I could easily handle myself."

Soul was about to retort, but the look Maka gave him made him stop.

"Please, Soul…just drop it?"

He swallowed his words as if he didn't have a choice. After all, if Maka really wanted him to stay out of the way, who was he to change her stubborn mind?

That didn't stop the worried feeling in his gut. Apparently, the girl must've sensed his unease, because she grabbed his hand again and led him to a part of Shibusen he had never seen.

"Now, let's get that motorcycle, shall we?"

…

Soul had always liked shiny things. It was no wonder, since he grew up admiring his mother's various crowns that glimmered under the chandeliers in the throne room. Occasionally during formal ceremonies, he was given his own simple crown to wear. However, his mother would always snatch it away as soon as the event was over.

"_You will wear your own crown when you become King." _she would always chastise.

So when Maka opened the storage door, the first thing that Soul noticed amidst the dusty boxes was the metallic structure in the middle of the unit.

Maka quickly walked over to it. "This," she slowly began, "Is a motorcycle, or a bike, if you will. It is used for transportation."

Soul stared in awe. "I've never seen anything like it."  
>"Of course not. Professor Stein invented it a few years ago for students to use on far away missions, but it seems like most people find their own preferred ways to get around. Plus, it's pretty costly to mass produce."<p>

Half of the words Maka was saying went in one ear and throughout the other for Soul. All of his attention, all of his _senses _were fixated on the orange and black bike.

"…and so Stein let me ride it first for testing, so I know how to…Prince? Are you listening?"

"Can I ride it?"  
>"Huh?"<br>"Can I ride it?" he repeated, drawn to the motorcycle like a bee to honey.

"Do you know how to?" Soul's face fell.

"No…but you'll teach me, right?"

"Sure." Maka smiled and climbed onto the bike, and gestured for Soul to take a seat behind her. He did as he was told, remembering that the last time they had ridden together, he was the one in front.

Soul scowled. Prince or not, he was chivalrous. Once he learned how to ride this enchanting 'motorcycle', he was never going to let his meister drive again.

His ruby eyes watched as Maka slid a key into a slot and the bike seemed to _come alive _beneath him.

Maka took one last look behind her shoulder. "Hold on tight, Prince…let's take this contraption for a test drive."

…

"We're here."

Maka's words rang on dead ears. Soul sat on the motorcycle seat, amazed.

The entire ride had left him spellbound…the speed, the rumble of the engine (as Maka called it) underneath the both of them. It must've been only a few minutes, and Soul only wanted to go for another round. But they were at Maka's apartment (or was it _their _apartment now), so he grimaced.

"You can let go now."

"Oh sorry, right…" Soul slowly untangled his arms from Maka's lithe waist. It was the only area that he could find acceptable to hold onto to avoid falling off the 'Death Machine' (Maka said that Stein had nicknamed it that way).

A whiff of her hair reminded Soul the _other_ reason why the ride was so appealing. Perhaps he was a bit delusional because of the experience, but he had never noticed how…_pleasing _the meister smelled. It was unique, like…home. He had to remind himself that of course it was okay for her to smell like that, since Maka was a girl after all…

She looked at him then and he remembered how he had _almost _nuzzled his face into her neck, enchanted by both bike and scent alike…

"Hey! Soul!"

Soul snapped out of his reverie. "What?"

"Earth to Soul! I'm going to go fight the Kishin now, alright? I'll be home by ten or so…"

"Wait, you're going to kill it now? It's already night time!"

"Most Kishin prefer to hunt in the dark." Maka stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

"But isn't it…more dangerous for you at night?"

The blond girl shrugged. "Not really."

She hopped off of the bike in one solid movement and extended one slender arm. "Town Square is just down the road and to the left, so I'll be fine. It's actually not too far from here."

"Okay." Soul frowned.

Maka threw him her ring of keys suddenly. "Just let yourself in, okay?"

Soul turned to the apartment building but listened to her footsteps pulling her in the opposite direction.

"Hey, Maka?"

She spun around, long coat swishing behind her. "Hmm?"

"I…" His thoughts caught in his throat. "_Don't go," _he wanted to say.

_Don't go because I have a bad feeling about this._

She seemed to read his mind and graced him with a small smile.

"I have to go, Soul. If I don't, another innocent soul will be devoured tonight. It's my duty."

Soul saw the steel materialize in her eyes. It was the same way she looked when he first met her on that fateful night.  
>He sighed in defeat.<p>

"Alright. See you at ten."

She smirked. "I won't be late."

…

She was late.

It was half past ten, and Soul paced the living room floor for the millionth time. After tossing and turning in his bed for an hour, he decided to just give up and wait for the meister to return.

He was antsy around 9:45, but completely nervous when the clock struck ten.

"_I won't be late," _echoed her last words to him in his mind, mocking Soul relentlessly.

His sank down onto Maka's beaten couch and thrust his head into his hands.

What was he thinking? He should have stopped her from accepting the three star "most deadly of Pre-Kishins" mission. He should have stopped her from going to the Town Square by herself. Sure, Maka was no feeble girl, but did that really mean she could handle a soul-hungry demon _by herself_?

The clock hand pointed to 10:45. Shit.

Soul grabbed his ugly mustard colored jacket and ran out the door. He tried to lock the handle with shaking hands before deciding that their meager belongings were not as important as _Maka possibly bleeding out on the pavement._

There was a little rational voice in his head that told him to calm down, that Maka was someone that could take care of herself and when had he become so attached to the 'demon girl' anyways? But that rational voice was pushed to the side by the fear and adrenaline coursing through his body.

The humid night air hit his face as he stepped outside. Alright, he had to get to the Town Square as soon as possible. Now what?

Orange metal glinted at him from the corner of his eye and the ring of keys sat enticingly in his pocket. His mind was made up instantly.

Like it or not, Maka was going to have her weapon for this mission.

~.~.~

**A/N: Chapter 11 is in progress…I'll update soon!**


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